In this section

GREAT AND LITTLE BARRINGTON

Great Barrington and Little Barrington, lying
on the eastern border of the county three miles
west of Burford (Oxon.) and six miles east of Northleach, were originally one parish that became two
during the Middle Ages, and were re-united in
1935 to form the civil parish of Barrington. In the
pages that follow, the history of both parishes is
given in a single narrative because of the recurrent
difficulty of distinguishing Great and Little Barrington in the records; for the names are used variously
to describe parishes, estates (of varying extent at
different periods), and villages with their farm-land,
and in each instance the division between the two was
usually different.

The modern parish of Barrington lies astride the
River Windrush and covers an area of 4,257 a. The
parish of Great Barrington included all the land
north of the river and, after the inclosure of the land
south of the river in 1759, the western part of that
land; before 1759 the part of Great Barrington south
of the river was apparently intermingled with Little
Barrington. The area of Great Barrington parish
was 2,990 a., excluding a field of 7 a. that formed
a detached part of Great Barrington within Little
Barrington and was transferred to Little Barrington
in 1882. Little Barrington included an area of 150 a.
at its southern tip separated from the rest by a narrow
neck of Great Barrington parish; this area was
transferred to Eastleach Turville in 1883, but was
apparently all reunited with Little Barrington in
1935 when 154 a. of Eastleach Turville were included
in the parish of Barrington. The area of Little
Barrington between 1883 and 1935 was 1,113 a. For
part of its course the boundary between Great
Barrington and the parishes of Sherborne and
Windrush on the west follows the River Windrush,
as did the boundary between Great Barrington and
Little Barrington. The south-east boundary of
Little Barrington is marked in part by the road from
Cirencester to Burford, and the boundary between
Great and Little Barrington running south from the
river followed roads for a way. For the rest the parish
boundaries follow field boundaries. (fn. 1)

Part of Great Barrington parish was until 1844 (fn. 2)
a detached part of Berkshire. This arrangement
appears to have originated when one of the estates
in Great Barrington became part of the royal manor
and hundred of Faringdon (Berks.) in the late 11th
century, (fn. 3) and this estate, though soon afterwards
united tenurially with the rest of Great Barrington,
remained a separate tithing. (fn. 4) In the 18th century 23
houses in Great Barrington village were said to be
in Berkshire, (fn. 5) and in the early 19th a strip of land
running the width of the parish along the north side
of the Windrush and cutting through the village was
distinguished as part of Berkshire. (fn. 6) Two inscribed
stones visible in 1962 marked the course of the
county boundary through the village.

The land rises from 350 ft. in the river valley to
650 ft. in the north and 550 ft. in the south. Most of
the parish, the higher and more exposed part, lies
on the Great Oolite; as the land drops down to the
river it cuts through narrow belts of the Inferior
Oolite, and the Upper, Middle, and Lower Lias, and
in the valley bottom are deposits of alluvium. (fn. 7) The
Inferior Oolite provides good building stone, (fn. 8) and
extensive disused quarries were a feature of the
landscape in 1962. Part of the farm-land north of
the river was inclosed to form a park, perhaps in the
early 15th century; the park, which supported a herd
of fallow deer in 1962, was later enlarged, and the
open land was gradually inclosed. South of the river
the open fields and downland were inclosed under
an Act of Parliament in 1759. (fn. 9) Apart from the park,
several small areas of woodland were scattered
among the arable and pasture fields in 1962.

North of the river are the sites of two Roman
villas. One, on the eastern side of the parish near
the river, has not been examined thoroughly, and the
other, in the park, has never been excavated. (fn. 10)

The villages of Great and Little Barrington lie on
either side of the river facing each other. Great
Barrington, on the north side, is a compact double
row of buildings along a village street running across
the slope at 450 ft. The park closes its western end,
and the position of the church within the park and
beside the large manor-house called Barrington
Park may indicate that the village contracted at its
western end to make way for the park. The fact that
this end of the village is called the Green, and the
names of Overgreen House and Undergreen House,
indicate the site of the village green there. The
houses of the village survive from the 17th, 18th,
and 19th centuries (the two farm-houses at the eastern end were built in the 19th century), and two new
houses were built in 1949. In the mid-20th century
the village was undergoing a gradual change, as
cottages were combined to form bigger houses and
were modernized.

Little Barrington village, on the south side of the
river at 400 ft., is grouped round a triangular green
in a fold in the side of the valley. The western half
of the village was in the parish of Great Barrington
and belonged to the owners of Great Barrington
manor; to distinguish it as part of Great Barrington it was often known as the Lower Village. (fn. 11) The
boundary between the two parts of the village ran
across the green, roughly following the course of the
Tight brook. On the south-west side of the green
are 16th- and 17th-century cottages, and two 17thcentury farm-houses. Cottages on the north-west and
east sides of the green were built in the 17th and
18th centuries. In the 19th century a few groups of
cottages, including seven charity cottages, (fn. 12) were
built in Minnow Lane, which leads eastward from
the north end of the village. In the mid-20th
century two houses were built at the northern end
of the village.

Three hundred yards east of the green are Little
Barrington church and Church Farm, and a quarter
of a mile east again is Barrington Grove, the manorhouse of Little Barrington. There are several other
houses away from the two villages. Manor Farm,
on the north-west edge of Barrington Park, was
built in the 17th century. Downs Farm and Downs
Cottages were built south of the Cirencester-Burford
road in the 18th century, and three more farm-houses
in the 19th, including Home Farm, south-east of
Barrington Grove, which is said to have been moved
from a site immediately west of Barrington Grove. (fn. 13)
The New Inn, on the Gloucester-Oxford road, was
evidently not one of the two inns in Great Barrington
in 1755 (fn. 14) and was built in the early 19th century.
Cottages also called Downs Cottages, in the extreme
north of Great Barrington parish, were built by 1841,
and the cottages at Manor Farm and two houses on
the Cirencester-Burford road later in the century.
Paper Mill Cottages were built in the 19th century
on the site of one of the water-mills. (fn. 15)

The main road from Gloucester to Oxford runs
through the southern part of the Barringtons, a mile
from the river and roughly parallel to it. This is
probably the road called the Ridgeway in 1584 and
1664, (fn. 16) and it was a turnpike from 1751 to 1870. (fn. 17)
The road from Cirencester to Burford was turnpiked
for its length through the Barringtons in 1753. (fn. 18)
The valley road that winds through the villages
beside the river from Northleach to Burford passes
through Little Barrington village; the main route
to Burford ran along Minnow Lane until diverted
(probably in the late 18th century) through the
green and past the church. (fn. 19) The road from Stowon-the-Wold that runs from north to south through
the Barringtons to meet the Cirencester-Burford
road was unfenced north of Great Barrington in the
18th century (fn. 20) and remained partly so in 1962.
Between the two villages this road crosses the river
by Strong's Causeway, said to have been built by
the mason Thomas Strong at the end of the 17th
century; previously communication had often been
prevented by flooding. (fn. 21) The bridge that existed by
the early 16th century (fn. 22) is likely to have been further
downstream by the mill, where a road between the
villages existed in the early 19th century (fn. 23) and may
have been the one known as the Kingsway from the
16th century to the 18th. (fn. 24) The bridge in Strong's
Causeway was rebuilt in the mid-20th century. (fn. 25)
Another minor road continues the line of Great
Barrington village street through Taynton (Oxon.)
to Burford.

In the mid-16th century there were said to be 30
households in Great Barrington and 7 in Little Barrington. (fn. 26) The population rose in the next hundred
years, for in 1650 there were 62 and 24 families
respectively. (fn. 27) In both Great and Little Barrington
numbers rose sharply in the 18th century (fn. 28) and
early 19th. In Little Barrington the population
reached a peak of 208 in 1841, but then fell to 67 in
1891 and thereafter remained around 100 until after
1931. In Great Barrington the population rose from
348 in 1801 to 545 in 1851 and then fell steadily to
330 in 1931. In 1951 the population of Great and
Little Barrington was 396, (fn. 29) and it continued to fall
in the next decade. (fn. 30)

Barrington Park had a private piped water supply,
from a spring at Taynton, (fn. 31) which until c. 1958 was
made available to the houses in Great Barrington
village by standpipes in the street. From that time
water was piped into the houses. From 1956 the
private supply was supplemented from the main and
in 1959 the houses began to be connected directly
to the main supply. (fn. 32) Some houses at Little Barrington were connected to a private piped supply, but
most of the water came from open springs or from
the Windrush, (fn. 33) until the 1950's when main water
became available. (fn. 34) Main electricity was available
in both villages by 1940. (fn. 35)

In 1891 Mrs. Robert Hurst built a small brick
building to be used as a parish hall for Little
Barrington church, and by his will proved in 1948
Arthur Reginald Hurst gave it in trust for the use of
the village along with £200 for its upkeep. (fn. 36)

All the houses in Great and Little Barrington,
except for Leyes Farm, south of the GloucesterOxford road, which is brick, are built of stone and
most have Cotswold stone roofs though a few
cottages have thatch or Welsh slate. The cottages
and farm-houses of the 17th and 18th centuries have
the traditional Cotswold features of mullioned windows, dripmoulds, dormers, projecting gables, and
moulded stone hoods. Many cottages and houses of
the late 18th and early 19th century are Georgian in
character, and have stone door-hoods on moulded
brackets. Little Barrington village in particular, its
cottages placed on banks above the green, displays
the picturesque characteristics for which Cotswold
villages are well known.

One 17th-century cottage in Little Barrington,
formerly a smith's, has a reset window of two
narrow lights with four-centred arched heads and a
wide arched doorway with a dripmould, probably of
the 16th century. On the east side of the green a row
of 17th- and 18th-century cottages includes one with
a 13th- or 14th-century arched stone doorway, but
apparently contains no other medieval feature. A
two-storied 18th-century house, which was a shop
until 1959 and was the Dog Inn of the late 18th
century, (fn. 37) contains both mullioned and sash
windows. The 19th-century vicarage, a large twostoried house, has a hipped roof of stone, sash
windows, and a stone porch with Doric columns. An
18th-century house in Great Barrington, the Hollies,
has windows with mullions and dripmoulds, and a
doorway with a broken entablature and pediment on
brackets. Both villages contain rubble barns with
Cotswold stone roofs.

Barrington Park is a large 18th-century house
referred to by Pope in the line

At Barrington shall English bounty stand. (fn. 38)
It replaced an earlier manor-house of Great Barrington, possibly the one called Bailiff's Chamber in
1514, (fn. 39) which at the beginning of the 18th century
incorporated two courtyards and appeared to have
been built in the early 16th century and early 17th.
Its gabled west front, one end of which was embattled, overlooked a farm-house, stables, and farm
buildings. (fn. 40) The house was damaged by fire in 1736,
and a year or two later the new house was built a little
further west, (fn. 41) the remains of the older house
surviving as part of the stables and office buildings.

The new house may have been designed by
William Kent, who is known to have designed a
pair of gate-posts in the park. (fn. 42) The house is of
ashlar, and has two stories with a shallow hipped
roof of Cotswold stone. The ground floor windows
on the south elevation have alternate segmental and
triangular pediments. The north elevation has four
pairs of Corinthian pilasters, an entablature cornice,
and a pediment and balustraded parapet. The
ground-floor windows have entablatures and the two
on either side of the entrance have pediments. The
whole stands upon a rusticated plinth. Later a heavy
porch was added, perhaps c. 1873 at the same time
as the two side wings (fn. 43) which are in keeping with
the main part of the house.

The house is sited on a natural terrace, overlooking the River Windrush which has been diverted
and widened to form a stretch of ornamental water
crossed by a stone bridge of three arches of c. 1740.
Among the carefully placed trees of the park are
several small 18th-century buildings, including a
Gothick folly south of the house and a dovecot
which had an external spiral staircase and a lead
cupola that was removed c. 1920. (fn. 44)

Manor Farm, north-west of Barrington Park, was
built in the late 17th century and combined classical
touches with the more usual Cotswold features. It is
of ashlar with a Cotswold stone roof and has two
stories and attics. Its main elevation has three gables,
the middle one surmounting a projecting portion of
the house. Each gable has a circular window; the
large central gable is crowned with a sundial finial,
the side ones with ball finials. The tall windows have
stone mullions, architraves, and simple moulded
hoods superimposed on a band-course.

Church Farm, immediately west of Little
Barrington church, a two-storied house of rubble
with a Cotswold stone roof, was built largely in the
17th century but includes some earlier parts. One
room, known as the 'priest's room', (fn. 45) has a small
reset 14th-century arched doorway, and on the east
side of the house is a small two-light window with
four-centred arches. The house is traditionally said
to have been used by priests from Bruern Abbey
(Oxon.) serving Little Barrington; Bruern Abbey
had a house in Little Barrington (fn. 46) but is not known
to have had any rights or duties in the church, and
the house is more likely to have been connected with
Llanthony Priory's estate. One of the barns incorporates a carved stone thought to have been part
of the fabric of the church and other stones that
may come from the church have been found in the
wall between Church Farm and the churchyard. (fn. 47)

Barrington Grove, the manor-house of Little
Barrington manor, was rebuilt in the late 18th
century, probably after 1779, but incorporates parts
of an older house. The house is of ashlar, is twostoried with attics, and has a Cotswold stone roof
with a parapet. The central portion projects. The
sash windows are in segmental-headed recesses on
the ground floor, and the upper story has six Doric
pilasters. The entrance, at the west end, has a portico
with Doric columns and entablature.

The Barringtons have been renowned for the
quality of the building-stone mined and quarried
there, and this has led to associations with several
successful masons, and particularly with members of
the Strong family. (fn. 48)

Manors and Other Estates.

Four
estates in Barrington were enumerated in the
Domesday Survey. The largest, eight hides, had been
held in 1066 as two manors by Turstan and Edwin,
and was held in 1086 as one manor by Walter son of
Roger. (fn. 49) Walter gave half this estate to Llanthony
Priory (fn. 50) before 1129, (fn. 51) and his son Miles, Earl of
Hereford, gave the other half to the priory for the
support of 13 lepers. (fn. 52) Another estate, of four hides,
had been held in 1066 by Tovi Widenesci and was
held at farm of the Crown by Elsi of Faringdon in
1086. (fn. 53) This estate became part of the royal manor
and hundred of Faringdon, (fn. 54) but it was held c. 1141
at farm of the Crown by William of Buckland, who
with the Empress Maud granted it in fee to Llanthony Priory for a rent payable at Woodstock
manor. (fn. 55) A third estate, also four hides, which was
held in 1066 by Aylmer and in 1086 at farm of the
Crown by Godwin of Stanton, (fn. 56) was granted by the
Empress Maud in free alms to Llanthony Priory. (fn. 57)
The fourth estate, of two hides, was held in 1066 by
Alvin, and in 1086 by William Goizenboded, and
of him by an under-tenant Ralph. (fn. 58)

The estates of Llanthony Priory in Barrington
formed the manor of GREAT BARRINGTON, (fn. 59)
which the priory retained until the Dissolution. The
priory was granted free warren there in 1292. (fn. 60) The
Crown granted the manor in 1540 to John Guise of
Elmore, (fn. 61) who sold it in 1553 to Richard Monnington of Barrington and his son-in-law, Reginald Bray
of Northmoor (Oxon.). (fn. 62) The manor descended in
the male line of the Bray family until 1735, passing
from Reginald to his son Edmund (fn. 63) (d. 1620), to
Edmund's grandson Sir Giles (fn. 64) (d. 1641), to Giles's
son (fn. 65) Sir Edmund (d. 1684), to Sir Edmund's son
Reginald (fn. 66) (d. 1688), to Reginald's son Edmund (fl.
1720), (fn. 67) and to Edmund's son Reginald Morgan
Bray, who sold the manor in 1735 to Charles Talbot,
the Lord Chancellor, for his son and daughter-inlaw, Mary, (fn. 68) daughter and eventual heir of Adam
de Cardonnel. (fn. 69) Lord Talbot died at Great Barrington in 1737; his son William, created Earl Talbot
and Baron Dynevor (d. 1782), was succeeded in his
estate at Barrington and his barony of Dynevor by
his daughter Cecil who married George Rice. Their
son George Talbot Rice, Baron Dynevor, was
succeeded in 1852 by his son George Rice RiceTrevor, Baron Dynevor, on whose death in 1869 (fn. 70)
the Barrington estate passed to Edward Rhys
Wingfield, the son of one of his daughters. Edward
Rhys Wingfield was succeeded in 1901 by his son
Mervyn Edward George Rhys Wingfield, (fn. 71) who
was in turn succeeded in 1952 by his eldest surviving
son, Mr. C. T. R. Wingfield, the owner of the estate
in 1962. (fn. 72)

The manor of LITTLE BARRINGTON may
have derived from William Goizenboded's Domesday estate. In 1205–6 John Crosson held a free
tenement in Barrington, (fn. 73) in 1265 another John
Crosson and his wife Olive held land there, (fn. 74) and in
1303 John Crosson, Thomas of the Houndmill, and
others held half a knight's fee in Little Barrington.
They were said to hold of Guiting manor, (fn. 75) as
tenants of the Templars. The Templars' estate
passed to William de Clinton, Earl of Huntingdon,
in 1340, when it included land in Barrington, (fn. 76) and
in 1508 Little Barrington manor was held of the
Clinton family. (fn. 77) On other occasions the same
estate was said to be held in chief (fn. 78) and of Llanthony
Priory, (fn. 79) but these seeming errors would have been
easy to make.

John Crosson and Thomas of the Houndmill,
perhaps the same two as in 1303, were returned as
holding the half knight's fee in 1346, (fn. 80) and the heirs
of J. Crosson were said to hold it in 1402. (fn. 81) John
Vampage of Pershore (Worcs.) was lord of the
manor (holding it of the Clintons) at his death in
1508, and his son Robert (fn. 82) died seised of it in 1516.
Robert's son John (fn. 83) died without issue in 1548, (fn. 84)
when his property was divided between his three
sisters. (fn. 85)

Mary Vampage sold a third of the manor in 1557
to William Reed, (fn. 86) and about the same time
Stephen Matthews (fn. 87) and Humphrey Smith (fn. 88) each
held a third of the manor. Stephen Matthews
bought William Reed's third from Giles Reed in
1570, (fn. 89) and in 1652 William and Katherine Matthews
sold their share to Robert Jordan (d. 1677), whose
sister and heir Anne married Samuel Mince in
1679. Jordan Mince inherited a share of the manor
from William Mince in 1756, and sold this estate
in 1759 to John Greyhurst, (fn. 90) who sold it soon
afterwards to Joseph Ellis of Ebley in Stonehouse. (fn. 91)
Humphrey Smith's share of the manor was held by
Thomas Smith in 1702, when he made a settlement
on his son Humphrey, and was sold by another
Thomas Smith to William Stead in 1770. Two
years later Stead sold it to Thomas Ellis, the
nephew of Joseph Ellis, and in 1779 Thomas Ellis
sold the whole manor to Giles Greenaway. (fn. 92) The
manor passed to Giles's son Charles, and to Charles's
widow Charlotte, whose nephew, Robert Hurst of
Horsham Park (Suss.), inherited the manor in 1873.
Robert's son, Arthur Reginald Hurst, inherited the
manor in 1905 and died in 1948, when it passed to
his grandson, Mr. R. H. Y. Mills, the owner in
1962. (fn. 93)

The rectory estate of Great Barrington, which
belonged to Llanthony Priory until the Dissolution, (fn. 94)
included in the late 16th century two-thirds of the
great and small tithes, a house called Prior's House,
two yardlands and 6 a. of arable, a meadow, and
woodland. (fn. 95) The Crown retained the rectory until
1607 when it was granted to Richard Lydall, who
sold it the next year to Edward Hungerford of
Windrush. Another Edward Hungerford of Windrush held it c. 1700, (fn. 96) but in 1735 it was included in
the sale of Great Barrington manor. (fn. 97) Afterwards it
remained part of the Barrington Park estate, to which
an allotment for part of the tithes was made in
1759 (fn. 98) and a tithe rent-charge for the rest in 1841. (fn. 99)

Llanthony Priory also owned Little Barrington
rectory estate, which in 1535 comprised only the
advowson and the great tithes, which were then let
at farm to the vicar. (fn. 100) The tithes were divided in the
17th century among several grantees of the Crown,
at farm and at fee farm, (fn. 101) but most of them were
owned by John Greyhurst at the end of the 17th
century, (fn. 102) and at inclosure in 1759 an allotment was
made to another John Greyhurst for nine-tenths
of the great tithes. (fn. 103) This land was later sold to Giles
Greenaway (fn. 104) and formed part of the Little Barrington estate in 1962.

Bruern Abbey (Oxon.) had a tenement in Little
Barrington which was granted by the Crown to
Edmund Powell in 1544. (fn. 105) Land belonging to the
Hospital of St. John, Burford, was granted to
Edmund Harman in 1543. (fn. 106)

Economic History.

In 1086 the four estates
in Great and Little Barrington, assessed at 18 hides,
supported 26 ploughs in all. On the demesne estates
there were 8 ploughs, with a recorded servile population of 25 distributed unevenly both among the
estates and in relation to the number of demesne
ploughs on each. The other 18 ploughs were shared
among 31 villani, 10 bordars, and a priest, and again
there was no correlation in the proportion of ploughs
to tenants. Three of the four estates had remained
unchanged in value since 1066, while one had fallen
a little; the values of three of the estates were
directly proportionate to their size as assessed in
hides. (fn. 107)

The smallest of the Domesday estates, identifiable
with the later manor of Little Barrington, appears
to have been entirely demesne, (fn. 108) and it may have
remained so. The manor was divided between four
people or more in 1303; (fn. 109) in 1327 only five people
were assessed for tax in Little Barrington, all at
relatively large amounts, and the two highest
assessments were of members of the Crosson
family (fn. 110) which held part (perhaps the largest part)
of Little Barrington manor. No reference to copyhold or customary tenants of Little Barrington
manor has been found except retrospectively in
1734. (fn. 111)

The demesne of Llanthony Priory's manor of
Great Barrington included in 1291 two plough-lands
and two dovecots. (fn. 112) Up to the late 14th century the
priory's demesne was administered by a bailiff. (fn. 113)
In 1514 the demesne, excluding certain pasture
grounds that may have contained the park, was held
of the priory at farm and included the bailiff's house
as the chief building. (fn. 114) In 1314 Barrington seems to
have been the centre for the shearing or collection
of the priory's Cotswold wool; (fn. 115) in the early 16th
century the prior visited Great Barrington manor
every year for the shearing, (fn. 116) and nearly 2,000 sheep
were sheared there in a year. (fn. 117) In 1535, however,
the pasture, for 400 sheep, was farmed along with
the arable of the demesne. (fn. 118)

The number of customary tenants of Great
Barrington manor in the early 14th century may be
indicated by the list of 21 taxpayers in 1327. (fn. 119) In
1539 there was one free tenant of Great Barrington
manor, but he held little land and what he did hold
may have been in another parish. At the same date
there were 31 customary tenants with holdings that
appear from their descriptions to have been held
earlier by some 50 tenants. Several tenants in 1539
held two or more holdings, though none had more
than three yardlands; nine tenants held one messuage
and one yardland, and this seems to have been the
most usual size of holding at an earlier date. (fn. 120)
Twenty-five years later the customary tenants were
fewer, but some of the former copyholds had become
freeholds. The copyholds were granted for one, two,
or three lives, and might be retained by widows as
freebench. Rents were mostly in cash but partly in
kind, and at least some heriots were paid in kind.
Labour-services at hay-harvest were still due, but
some tenants paid cash instead. (fn. 121)

The number of free tenants of Great Barrington
manor was six by 1570 and had risen to nine by
1624, when the number of copyholders had shrunk
to 15. (fn. 122) The copyholds were apparently being enfranchised gradually, and at the same time the
average size of the estates was getting larger. The
reference in 1648 to lands in Little Barrington (i.e.
south of the river) that had once been copyhold of
Great Barrington manor (fn. 123) is the last mention that
has been found of copyhold tenure in Great Barrington.

In the mid-17th century c. 35 people, including
the owners of freeholds that had never been part
of Great Barrington manor, held land in the open
fields of Great and Little Barrington. (fn. 124) The open
fields north of the river were two in the 16th
century, called Combe field and Slowe field, (fn. 125) and
were supervised by two overseers. (fn. 126) Barrington
Park had apparently been formed out of the open
fields by 1412, when there were complaints by the
copyholders that the Prior of Llanthony had deprived them of land and animals. (fn. 127) There may have
been a deer-park as early as 1327, when an inhabitant
of Great Barrington was surnamed 'at the leapgate'. (fn. 128) One tenant was inclosing land in Great
Barrington in 1567, (fn. 129) and there appears to have been
piecemeal inclosure during the next century and a
half, including (to judge from the lines of former
walls) the enlargement of the park. In 1704 there
were still two open fields, (fn. 130) but the process of
inclosure was completed fairly soon afterwards.

The land south of the river was also divided into
the two fields of Little Barrington, called the East
field and the West field in the 13th century. The
yardland then contained c. 44 field-acres, (fn. 131) and was
roughly the same size in the 18th century (fn. 132) when, at
inclosure, the yardland was the equivalent of c. 30
statute acres. (fn. 133) Although part of Little Barrington
fields belonged to Great Barrington manor, the lands
of Great Barrington manor and of Little Barrington
manor lying intermingled, Little Barrington fields
formed a separate agricultural unit. (fn. 134) In 1624 two
overseers of Little Barrington fields were chosen in
Great Barrington manor court; (fn. 135) this was perhaps
because Little Barrington manor, being divided, was
ineffective as an organ of local government. Little
Barrington fields were comprehensively inclosed
under an Act of Parliament in 1759. (fn. 136)

Sheep-and-corn husbandry is likely to have been
practised in Great and Little Barrington in the early
Middle Ages. Reference has already been made to
sheep-farming on Llanthony Priory's demesne, and
it is perhaps significant that in 1327 the most highly
assessed taxpayer in the two villages was surnamed
Shepherd. (fn. 137) The retention of sheep-pastures by
Llanthony Priory when the demesne arable was let
in the early 16th century suggests a separation in husbandry, between sheep-farming on the one hand and
more concentrated arable farming on the other. The
suggestion is supported by the relatively low number
of sheep-commons, a mere ten, that were allowed in
the 16th century for each yardland held by the
tenants. (fn. 138) It is possible, however, that while the
produce of the land was divided (the tenants producing mainly cereals while the lord produced wool)
the raising of sheep and of corn remained complementary, the stubble and fallow affording feeding
for the sheep, and the sheep giving manure for the
cornfields. The land of the two parishes contained
good meadow by the river, partly held in common
and administered by the overseers, and partly held
by lot. (fn. 139)

At inclosure in 1759 the land south of the river was
mostly divided between the owners of the two
manors. The land inclosed comprised 42 yardlands
of arable and c. 600 a. of downland; the allotments
totalled 1,832 a. Fifteen freeholders received allotments: John Greyhurst's was 558 a., Thomas
Smith's 452 a., and Lady Talbot's 325 a., the last
two including allotments for land held by lessees;
six others received between 15 a. and 160 a., and
another six received less than 10 a. The commissioners allotted 100 a. to four corporate owners,
much the largest allotment being the 82 a. of the
Little Barrington Church and Poor Trustees. (fn. 140)

After inclosure most of the land in Great and
Little Barrington was arable. In 1801 Little Barrington had over 1,000 a. sown, of which 250 a. was sown
with turnips. (fn. 141) Great Barrington was said to be
mainly arable c. 1790, (fn. 142) and was two-thirds arable
in 1841. (fn. 143) Also after inclosure most of the small
estates were swallowed by the large ones. North of
the river the Barrington Park estate absorbed nearly
all the smaller estates in the late 18th century. (fn. 144) The
process was completed c. 1935 when M. E. G. R.
Wingfield bought from the Church Commissioners
the 37 a. of glebe, the last piece of land to remain
outside the Barrington Park estate. (fn. 145) South of the
river some of the land belonged in 1759 to the same
estate, and most of the rest was acquired by the owner
of Little Barrington manor (the Barrington Grove
estate) who in 1779 owned 1,230 a. (fn. 146)

Most of the land in Great and Little Barrington
was divided between six large farms in the 19th
century (fn. 147) and in 1961. At that time Manor farm
included c. 1,100 a., there were five farms of 300600 a., and several much smaller holdings. The land
was mostly devoted, in 1961, to growing corn,
sheep, and beef. (fn. 148)

The good building stone from the Inferior Oolite
south of the river has provided employment for
masons in the two parishes. Barrington stone was
used for New College, Oxford, in 1396–7, St.
George's Chapel, Windsor, (fn. 149) and the Divinity
Schools, Oxford, in the 15th century, Hampton
Court Palace (fn. 150) and Christ Church, Oxford, in the
16th, the Sheldonian Theatre, Oxford, and Coleshill
House (Berks.) in the 17th, (fn. 151) and Blenheim Palace,
Woodstock, in the 18th. (fn. 152) Llanthony Priory had
a quarry in Barrington in 1535, (fn. 153) and masons of
Barrington are recorded in the mid-15th century and
early 16th, (fn. 154) throughout the 17th century, (fn. 155) and in
the mid-19th. (fn. 156) The most distinguished of these
were members of the Strong family: Timothy Strong
(d. 1635) moved to Little Barrington in the early
17th century, his son Valentine worked there from
1632 until his death in 1662, and Thomas Strong,
though he did not live there, owned quarries in
Little Barrington from which he took stone for the
rebuilding of London after the Great Fire. (fn. 157) The
River Windrush was used for transporting the stone.
In the 19th century the stone was mined underground; the mines were closed by the early 20th
century, and quarries still in use then (fn. 158) had been
closed by 1961.

There are indications of a small woollen industry
in the Barringtons. The fulling-mill that was
working from the 14th century is mentioned below. (fn. 159)
In the late 18th century it was said that the weaving
industry that had once flourished in Great Barrington had declined; (fn. 160) there were at the time two
clothiers living in Little Barrington, (fn. 161) where there
was a weaver in 1817. (fn. 162) The former fulling-mill
provided occupation as a paper mill in the early 19th
century. (fn. 163)

Other non-agricultural occupations recorded are
those of smith in the 16th century, (fn. 164) of smith, baker,
and carpenter in 1608, (fn. 165) and of carpenter (fn. 166) and
cordwainer in the 18th century. (fn. 167) An ale-seller
figured in 1639; (fn. 168) there were two inns in Great
Barrington in 1755 (fn. 169) and one in Little Barrington
in the late 18th century, (fn. 170) but the New Inn is the
only one known in the 19th and 20th centuries. In
the early 19th century about a quarter of the
population in each parish was supported mainly by
trade or manufacture. (fn. 171) Great Barrington had a
smith, a baker, a carpenter, a wheelwright, and a
shoemaker in the mid-19th century. (fn. 172) In 1961 there
was still a baker and a smith, and also a shop and
post office. Most of the inhabitants then worked on
the land; an unusually small number travelled out
of the parish to work, and only one resident (a
clergyman) had moved to Great Barrington after
retiring. (fn. 173) Little Barrington in the 19th century had
a butcher, a carpenter, and two shopkeepers, (fn. 174) but
in 1919 there was only one shop (fn. 175) which closed in
1959. In 1961 the greater part of the working population was employed in agriculture, though several
were employed in trade or industry outside the
parish and there was a number of retired and
professional people. (fn. 176)

Mills.

Barrington Mill is likely to be the successor
of the mill valued in 1086 at 10s., (fn. 177) and the mill held
in demesne by the Prior of Llanthony in 1291. (fn. 178)
In 1360, when it was known as Canon Mill, it was
let for a corn-rent, (fn. 179) and it was presumably one of the
two mills sold with the manor in the 16th century. (fn. 180)
It remained in use as a mill, on a diminishing scale,
until c. 1948, when the building was converted for
use as a cottage. (fn. 181)

Dodd's Mill, in the north-west corner of the
parish, is perhaps to be identified with the Domesday mill on Tovi Widenesci's estate. (fn. 182) It also
became part of Llanthony Priory's manor of Great
Barrington, and in 1542 was sold to the men who
bought the manor eleven years later. (fn. 183) It remained
in use until c. 1900, but soon afterwards became
derelict and was demolished. (fn. 184)

The mill on William Goizenboded's estate in
1086 (fn. 185) was presumably the later Hound Mill, which
was so called in the early 13th century, when it
comprised two mills. (fn. 186) Clement Bonpas gave the
mills to Llanthony Priory c. 1226. (fn. 187) In the 13th and
14th centuries the priors leased them to members of
the Houndmill family: (fn. 188) one of its members was
returned as joint lord of Little Barrington in 1303. (fn. 189)
By the late 14th century the Hound Mill was held
freely of the priory with 24 a., and was described as
a fulling-mill. (fn. 190) In the early 17th century, when
Richard Reed sold it to William Clevely (fn. 191) of Alvescot
(Oxon.), the Hound Mill included two corn mills;
in 1674 it belonged to John Godfrey, whose grandson, John Goldsmith, sold it in 1700 to Isaac
Heming. There were then said to be three corn mills,
but at about the same time there appear to have been
two corn mills and a fulling-mill. Heming conveyed
the Hound Mill to his son-in-law, William Minchin,
in 1710, and the Minchin family retained it until the
late 18th century, when it was apparently a fullingmill only. (fn. 192) From 1816 to 1846 it worked as a paper
mill, and then went out of use. (fn. 193) The buildings
became part of the Barrington Grove estate and were
partly converted to cottages, called Paper Mill
Cottages, and in 1962 some of the buildings of the
paper mill remained visible.

The fourth mill recorded in 1086 perhaps passed
with the rest of the estate then held at farm by
Godwin of Stanton (fn. 194) to Llanthony Priory. It is
possible that this was the mill held for a cash rent
in the 14th century, (fn. 195) and also the mill belonging to
the estate of Stephen Matthews in 1568, (fn. 196) but no
later evidence of it has been found unless it was in
fact one of the three mills comprised in the Hound
Mill.

Local Government.

In the Middle Ages
the Barringtons were divided into four tithings,
corresponding to the four Domesday estates. In
only one of the tithings, which was apparently coextensive with Little Barrington manor and corresponded with William Goizenboded's Domesday
estate, did the view of frankpledge belong to the
lord of the hundred. (fn. 197) Great Barrington manor
comprised three tithings. Canons' Hold corresponded to the estate held at farm in 1086 by Godwin
of Stanton, and Sick Men's Hold to the Domesday
estate of Walter son of Roger; (fn. 198) view of frankpledge
in these two tithings belonged to the Prior of Llanthony, who in 1316 was said to hold the view in half
of Barrington. (fn. 199) The tithing called Kings' Hold
comprised the estate that became part of the manor
and hundred of Faringdon in Berkshire. (fn. 200) In the 13th
century three men made suit for the tithing at the
court of Faringdon hundred and the court held view
of frankpledge at Barrington once a year. (fn. 201) Although
this tithing remained part of Faringdon hundred
and of Berkshire until 1844, view of frankpledge in
it appears to have passed to the Prior of Llanthony
by 1389 when he was said to hold the view for all his
land in Barrington. (fn. 202) In 1505 the view of all three
tithings in Great Barrington manor was taken in the
manor court. (fn. 203) In addition to the four tithings mentioned, the Templars claimed view of frankpledge
in their lands in Barrington in the 13th century. (fn. 204)

Court rolls for Great Barrington manor survive
for 1505–6, (fn. 205) 1563, (fn. 206) 1567, (fn. 207) 1569, (fn. 208) 1570, (fn. 209) 1571, (fn. 210)
and 1624. In 1624 each of the three tithings had still
its own constable and tithingman. (fn. 211) The only
surviving record of Little Barrington manor court
is an abstract of a court roll of 1779, defining the
bounds of the manor and making orders about
animals; (fn. 212) the owner of each part of the manor is
said to have held a court in the 17th century. (fn. 213)

Churchwardens' accounts of Little Barrington
survive from 1747, and of Great Barrington only
from the 19th century, but there are overseers'
papers for Great Barrington, including a large
number of removal orders, from 1714. Between
1775 and 1803 expenditure on poor relief increased
fourfold in Little Barrington and sixfold in Great
Barrington. (fn. 214) In the next ten years expenditure in
Little Barrington fell although the number of
people being regularly relieved rose from 12 to 32,
while in Great Barrington, where in 1815 there were
37 people regularly and 34 occasionally relieved,
expenditure was again doubled. (fn. 215)

Under the Poor Law Amendment Act of 1834
Great Barrington became part of the Stow-on-theWold Poor Law Union, and Little Barrington part
of the Northleach Union. Under the Public Health
Act of 1872 they thus became parts of the Stow-on
the-Wold and the Northleach rural sanitary districts
respectively, and from its formation in 1935 the new
civil parish of Barrington was in the Northleach
Rural District. (fn. 216) The parish council met regularly
in 1962.

Churches.

In 1086 the tenants at Barrington of
Walter son of Roger included a priest, (fn. 217) and in the
early nth century Walter gave tithes in Barrington
to the church of St. Owen, (fn. 218) in Gloucester, which
was itself given to Llanthony Priory shortly afterwards. Walter's son Miles confirmed his father's
gift of the church of Barrington to the priory. (fn. 219)
The church of Great Barrington was dedicated by
Alfred, Bishop of Worcester, c. 1159, when there
belonged to it the dependent chapels of Little
Barrington and Windrush. (fn. 220)

Apparently at about this time the two chapels
and the mother church were appropriated to
Llanthony Priory, (fn. 221) and a vicarage was established
in Great Barrington by the mid-13th century. (fn. 222) The
rights of Great Barrington church over the chapels
of Little Barrington and Windrush, from which
tithes and a pension were paid, were challenged on
several occasions, and although repeatedly confirmed (fn. 223) they were apparently lost by the early 14th
century. The vicarage of Great Barrington was
united with the vicarages of Little Barrington and
Taynton in 1929. (fn. 224) The advowson of Great Barrington descended with the rectory estate and (from
1735) the manor, (fn. 225) the patron in 1962 of the united
benefice being Mr. C. T. R. Wingfield. (fn. 226)

In 1291 the Vicar of Great Barrington's portion
was £4 13s. 4d.; (fn. 227) it had increased to £6 14s. by
1535. (fn. 228) The value of the vicarage in 1650 was £53
a year, (fn. 229) and £75 in the mid-18th century. (fn. 230) In the
16th and 17th centuries the vicar's glebe included
a house, one yardland, a meadow called Vicar's
Ham, a few small closes, and common of pasture
for 6 cows and 50 sheep. (fn. 231) In 1691 the vicar built
a new glebe house, (fn. 232) which was exchanged in 1742
for a house and close belonging to Lord Talbot. (fn. 233)
In 1535 the vicar received one-third of the great
tithes and part of the small tithes; the small tithes
belonging to the rectory were leased to him, and
a modus was paid for the tithes of the demesne;
a pension of 10s. was owed by the vicarage to Llanthony Priory. (fn. 234) The vicar's share of the small tithes
was evidently only one-third, for in 1561 the Crown
leased two-thirds of them. (fn. 235) At the inclosure of
Little Barrington in 1759 the Vicar of Great Barrington received a rent-charge for the tithes of land
inclosed, (fn. 236) and in 1828 the vicar had in addition a
house, 36 a., one-third of the tithes arising north of
the river, and a modus for the tithes of Barrington
Park. (fn. 237) In 1841 all the remaining vicarial tithes were
commuted for a corn-rent of £190, (fn. 238) and the vicarage, including 41 a. of glebe, was valued at £222 in
the 1850's. (fn. 239)

Dr. Guy Eaton, vicar in 1540, had formerly been
a friar at Oxford. (fn. 240) His successor in 1551 was said
to be satisfactory in religious knowledge, (fn. 241) but by
1563 the parish was served by a curate, the vicar
being a pluralist and non-resident. (fn. 242) From 1604 to
1661 the living was held by John Hicks, whose
incumbency was apparently not interrupted by the
Interregnum. (fn. 243) John Bradley, who was vicar from
1689 to 1741 and built the new glebe house, was
probably resident at first, but by 1710 he held
another benefice also and provided a curate to serve
Great Barrington. (fn. 244)

In 1750 Great Barrington and Taynton were held
by a single incumbent, (fn. 245) and later in the 18th century
the vicar lived at Cheltenham, Great Barrington
being served by a curate who also lived outside the
parish. (fn. 246) In 1810 Edward Rice, brother of Lord
Dynevor, became vicar. From 1812 he lived at
Barrington Park, serving the cure himself though
there was a curate also in 1815. (fn. 247) From 1820 to
1873 the parish was entrusted to curates who lived
in the glebe house while the vicar, Thomas Lewes,
lived at Taynton. (fn. 248) Two of the early 20th-century
vicars were also vicars of Taynton, (fn. 249) and after the
union of the benefices the vicar lived at Taynton
until 1956 when he lived at Great Barrington. (fn. 250)
'Full services' were held in 1750 (fn. 251) and 1825, (fn. 252) and
from 1929 services were held regularly in the morning and occasionally in the evening. The living was
vacant for nearly two years in the mid-1950's and at
the end of 1961 had been vacant for a similar period.
Services were at the time taken by a retired clergyman living in the village. (fn. 253)

There was a chaplain serving Little Barrington
in the mid-12th century when the chapel there was
confirmed to Llanthony Priory along with the mother
church of Great Barrington. (fn. 254) After the appropriation to the priory a vicarage of Little Barrington was
instituted, (fn. 255) so that Little Barrington church had
the same status as Great Barrington. It continued
to be described as a chapel of Great Barrington until c. 1300; (fn. 256) afterwards, though sometimes called
a chapel, (fn. 257) Little Barrington church seems to have
been independent of Great Barrington until 1929,
when the Barringtons and Taynton became a united
benefice. (fn. 258) The advowson of Little Barrington belonged to Llanthony Priory until the Dissolution,
and to the Crown from then until 1929, (fn. 259) when,
after a dispute taken to the House of Lords, the
whole patronage of the united benefice was vested
in M. E. G. R. Wingfield. (fn. 260)

The vicarial glebe of Little Barrington included
c. 1200 one yardland which was said to have
belonged to the chapel for a long time, and the vicar
also received the small tithes and offerings, and the
farm of two yardlands belonging to Llanthony
Priory. (fn. 261) A little later, perhaps, it was said that two
yardlands had anciently been assigned to the chapel
and that the vicar had a third yardland from the
demesne of Bertram Crosson. (fn. 262) In 1535 the vicarage
was valued at £4 19s. 1½d., arising from 27 a. in the
open fields, ½ a. of meadow, a house, a sheep-house,
and tithes. At the time the tithes of wool and lambs
belonged to the vicar. (fn. 263) A few years later part of the
small tithes were held by the Vicar of Great Barrington and, after the Dissolution, passed to the Crown
with the rectory estate. (fn. 264) By the 18th century the
vicarage was worth £35, (fn. 265) and the glebe comprised
48 a. of arable and meadow, with common of pasture
for 8 cows and 70 sheep, and two small houses. (fn. 266)
At inclosure in 1759 the vicar received 45 a. for glebe
and a £30 rent-charge for tithes, which were said to
have included one-tenth of the great tithes and all
the small tithes except two-thirds of the tithes of
wool and lambs. (fn. 267) In 1841 the vicarage was valued
at £98, (fn. 268) and in the same period the glebe house
was said to be unfit for the vicar to live in (fn. 269) and was
let to a cottager. (fn. 270)

John Lane, Vicar of Little Barrington in 1535, (fn. 271)
may have belonged to the local family of that name
and was apparently resident. Richard Edmunds,
instituted in 1554, was allowed to hold two benefices
from 1560, (fn. 272) and although he served the cure of
Little Barrington himself he lived elsewhere. (fn. 273) Fulk
Jones, vicar 1572–1622, was neither a graduate nor
a preacher (fn. 274) but he was said to be satisfactory
although it was complained in 1572 that he had
neglected the glazing of the chancel and the repair
of the vicarage. From 1622 to 1669 the living was
held by Lewis Jones, without interruption during
the Interregnum. (fn. 275) William Chadwell, vicar 1669–75,
belonged to the Chadwell family which held land in
Little Barrington and the neighbourhood. (fn. 276) William
Goodenough, instituted in 1735, (fn. 277) was also Rector
of Broughton (Oxon.); the cure was served c. 1738
by a curate who received the whole income of the
vicarage. (fn. 278) In 1750, morning and afternoon services
were held on alternate Sundays, (fn. 279) and services were
the same in 1825. (fn. 280) Until the mid-19th century the
vicars were normally non-resident, sometimes serving the cure in person (from Eastleach Turville,
Sherborne, or Taynton) and sometimes providing
a curate. (fn. 281) The curate in 1829 was Isaac Williams,
the poet and theologian. (fn. 282) The vicar from 1866 to
1902 was Richard Rice, who lived in the parish. His
successor was also Rector of Westwell (Oxon.),
where he lived, (fn. 283) and since the union of Little
Barrington with Great Barrington and Taynton no
incumbent has lived in Little Barrington. (fn. 284)

The church of ST. MARY, (fn. 285) Great Barrington, stands on the edge of Barrington Park. It
is a building of stone, roughcast on the south
front of the nave, with a Cotswold stone roof, and
comprises chancel, nave, north aisle and porch, and
embattled west tower flanked by vestry and boilerhouse. Part of the 12th-century fabric of the church
survives in the wide chancel arch, which is of three
orders with rich chevron and billet mouldings
supported on plain rounded jamb-shafts with
scalloped capitals. The nave of four bays was
rebuilt in the early 13th century, with an arcade to
the north aisle of two chamfered orders on plain
cylindrical columns with deeply moulded octagonal
capitals and 'water holding' bases. It is possible that
there was also a south aisle and a west tower. (fn. 286) In
the late 15th century the nave and north aisle were
rebuilt with square-headed windows of three lights
and tracery (the south aisle, if any, being demolished),
and a clerestory was added with similar windows,
giving the church a regular appearance. The aisle
has a lean-to roof, but retains the corbel-heads of an
earlier ridged roof. The panelled timber ceiling of
the nave has carved bosses and bears the date 1511.
The 15th-century west tower is of four stages, with
battlements and crocketed pinnacles. It has a west
door with a canopied image-bracket above it on the
inside. There is a narrow window on each exposed
face of the second stage, two louvred lights on each
of the third, and a single louvred light on each face
of the top stage. In the early 19th century a south
porch was removed (its position is marked by a
buttress), and in 1873 the north porch and chancel
were rebuilt, (fn. 287) the chancel in the style of the 14th
century. Up to the late 18th century one of the
windows of the church retained fragments of ancient
painted glass. (fn. 288)

The carved octagonal bowl of the 15th-century
font is similar to those at Windrush and Oddington. The aisle was used as a burial-place by the
Bray family (fn. 289) and contains two large monuments, one
an effigy apparently of Captain Edmund Bray (fn. 290)
(d. 1620), and the other a sculptured monument by
Christopher Cass (fn. 291) to Jane and Edward Bray, who
died young in 1711 and 1720 respectively. (fn. 292) In the
chancel a floorstone commemorates Philip Parsons
(d. 1653), President of Hart Hall, Oxford, and also
in the chancel, where Lord Chancellor Talbot was
buried, (fn. 293) there are several monuments, including
one to Mary, Countess Talbot, by Nollekens, to
members of the Talbot and Rice families. Of the
six bells four are of 1733 and two are undated. (fn. 294)
The plate includes an almsdish of 1672 and a chalice
and paten-cover of 1676 given in 1684. (fn. 295) The
registers begin in 1547 and are virtually complete. In
1682 the church was the scene of some drunken destructiveness by guests staying at Barrington Park. (fn. 296)

The church of ST. PETER, Little Barrington,
stands slightly removed from the village on the road
to Burford. It is of rubble with a Cotswold stone
roof and comprises chancel, nave, north aisle, south
porch, north-west tower, and a sanctus bellcot over
the chancel arch. Four steps descend to the porch
and three more to the nave. Of the late 12th-century
church there survives the south doorway, with
volute capitals, arch of three orders deeply cut with
chevron and lozenge ornament, and a hoodmould of
dog-tooth ornament broken at the centre by a
monstrous head; the nave arcade of two circular
arches supported on cylindrical pillars with scalloped
capitals; a corbel-head reset in the splay of one of
the south windows; and the tympanum of, apparently, the north doorway, carved with a Christ in
Majesty in bold relief, built into the north wall of
the aisle. At the east end of the aisle are traces of
mural painting of the 13th century and perhaps of the
12th. (fn. 297) In the 14th century the chancel, the west
end of the nave, and the aisle were rebuilt, and the
tower was built at the west end of the aisle; of this
work the two south windows of the chancel, and one
of the north windows of the aisle, and the bottom
stage of the tower, with the marks of a former lean-to
aisle roof on the east wall, survived in 1961, and there
were fragments of 14th-century glass in the east
window of the aisle. (fn. 298)

In the 15th century new windows were put in the
south and west walls of the nave, the east and north
walls of the chancel, and in the north and east walls
of the aisle. A west doorway to the nave was later
blocked. The south porch was added, with stone
benching and a small niche in the north wall, and
chancel, nave, and aisle were re-roofed, the trussed
rafters of nave and chancel surviving in 1961. The
tower was rebuilt, of three stages and battlemented,
the top stage having windows of two louvred lights
on each face. Three image niches in the east wall of
the aisle and a rectangular piscina in the south wall
of the chancel, all uncovered during restoration in
1954, (fn. 299) are also likely to be 15th-century. The chancel
was extensively repaired in the early 19th century,
when a north doorway and a squint from the aisle
were blocked. The chancel arch bears traces of
stonework that are thought to have belonged to a
stone screen. (fn. 300)

The font is 15th-century, and the furniture of the
sanctuary is early 17th-century. On the south wall
are two scratch dials. There are memorial tablets to
members of the Greenaway and Greyhurst families
and, on the outside of the porch, one with standing
figures in deep relief to the Taylor family. Two of
the bells are dated 1638 and 1659 and the third is of
the 19th century. (fn. 301) The registers begin in 1682. The
repair of the church has been, since the 17th century,
one of the two objects of the principal parochial
charity of Little Barrington. (fn. 302)

Nonconformity.

In the late 17th century
there was a family of Quakers in Great Barrington, (fn. 303)
and 15 Independents lived there in 1735. (fn. 304) In 1804
a group of Baptists registered a house in Great
Barrington for religious worship; in 1839 two other
houses in Great Barrington and in 1840 a house in
Little Barrington were similarly registered, but for
what denomination is not stated. (fn. 305) There is no
evidence of later nonconformist meetings in Great
or Little Barrington.

Schools.

In the early 19th century day and
Sunday schools in Little Barrington were supported
partly from the surplus revenue of the Church and
Poor's Estate, (fn. 306) and by 1856 a day school for poor
children was maintained by the Greenaway family. (fn. 307)
By 1885 this school had closed and the children went
to school at Great Barrington, (fn. 308) where a C. of E.
school had been started by Lord Dynevor in
1823. (fn. 309) In 1873 the Great Barrington school, with
an attendance of 79, occupied three buildings owned
by E. R. Wingfield, who subsidized the school, (fn. 310)
and from 1877 the school had a certificated teacher. (fn. 311)
Attendance was 113 in 1904. (fn. 312) It became a 'controlled' school in 1959, and in 1961 was attended
by some 50 children up to 11 years old from Great
Barrington, Little Barrington, and Windrush; the
older children went to Bourton-on-the-Water or
Northleach. (fn. 313)

Charities.

Before 1704, when the combined
endowment amounted to £15 stock, Thomas Strong,
William Matthews, and Thomas Patten made gifts
to the poor of Great Barrington, (fn. 314) but the endowment had been lost by 1828. Three other gifts, of
John Taylor, of Thomas Bridges by will dated 1758,
and of Thomas Bridges his son by will dated 1795,
were then said to be void. Mrs. Jane Bray, by will
dated 1715, gave £1 a year and Mary, Countess
Talbot (d. 1787), gave £400 stock, both for clothing
the poor of Great Barrington; (fn. 315) these charities were
distributed in cash to old age pensioners in 1961. (fn. 316)
Before 1683 Katherine Hall and Robert Trinder each
gave a small estate for the upkeep of the church and
for the poor of Little Barrington, (fn. 317) and in 1719 John
Greyhurst conveyed what was apparently the same
property to trustees. (fn. 318) The three estates together
produced £14 a year in 1750, (fn. 319) and in 1759 under
the inclosure award the trustees received 82 a. (fn. 320) In
1859 the Church and Poor's Estate included 84 a.
of arable, some meadow, and seven cottages, and in
1959 it produced £200 a year used partly for the
repair of the church and partly for distributions to
the poor. Before 1700 Joan Dorset gave stock to the
poor of Little Barrington which amounted to £10
worth in 1959. (fn. 321)

41. Cf. Elegant Epistles [ed. V. Knox] (Dublin, 1791),
547, 559. Some of the dates given there are to be modified,
for Rundle became Bishop of Deny in 1735 and Lord
Chancellor Talbot died 14 Feb. 1737.

54. Cf. V.C.H. Berks, iv. 492–3. Part of Great Barrington
was in Faringdon hundred, which was coterminous with
the royal manor. An exact parallel is provided by Langford
(Oxon.): V.C.H. Oxon. i. 401; ii. 215n.

59. Llanthony's estate was sometimes called the manor or
manors of Great and Little Barrington; the lords of Great
Barrington owned land south of the Windrush, but in 1759
that land was described as in Little Barrington manor, and
in 1820 the lord of Great Barrington was judicially declared
to have no manor of Little Barrington: Glos. R.O., Q/RI 17;
deeds at Barrington Grove.

264. E 310/14/51/38. These small tithes may have arisen
from the part of Great Barrington parish that lay south of
the Windrush; this would account for their being thought
a natural part of Little Barrington vicarage.